Part of The Program
by Matrix3
Summary: A stranger appears as unresolved issues continue to plague Tokyo in the aftermath of RAPTs destruction.
1. Chapter 1

Part of The Program

Part 1

There are many possible realities that exist parallel to one another. While they differ in ways large and small, there is one thing that is constant-- most of them do not know of each others' existence. However, there is some trouble brewing that may change that…

The first thing he saw was that he was in an alley, once his eyes had adjusted to the dim light. Knowing he had a job to do, he made sure that his weapons were concealed so as to not to cause trouble on his way through the city. As he emerged from the alley, he saw that he was in Japan, due to the signs and billboards being written in Japanese. Before he could go on any further, he was halted by a flash of an image in his mind. The image was that of a logo with the words "RAPT."

In the past he had learned that flashes like these always pointed him towards what he was supposed to do, and so he had come to trust them. After gathering information by questioning others, he came to learn that RAPT was a peacekeeping force that had some unsettling things connected to it. He had also learned that its headquarters had been attacked by some assailants who were now in hiding. He decided to go to the headquarters to look for clues as to what his mission here was. The place, sure enough, was decimated by an explosion, just as he had heard, but what got his attention was that the police were not involved in securing the area, but instead some masked men in military attire were on patrol. He was able to sneak around security sections put up to keep the public away from the area. When he came upon the building, he saw that they were bringing things out from what was left of the shattered structure in metal boxes so as to hide their contents. He had to find a way to sneak in and take a closer look.

He was tired of guarding this place, which gave him the creeps due to the things he had seen inside. He had decided to sneak away to smoke a cigarette to calm his nerves when he practically jumped at a sound coming just around a corner nearby. Getting his weapon ready, he went to check it out, despite not wanting to. However, he knew that if he did not, he would have some serious hell to pay. Carefully, he came around the corner, but saw nothing but scurrying rats. Relieved, he was unaware of a shadow that descended on him from above, and then his world went dark.

He had decided to take a uniform from one of the soldiers to have a better look around without causing any trouble. But before he could do this he had to wait for one of them to separate from the others. A few minutes later, he got lucky and saw that one of them had gone nearby for a smoke. He went around to the other end of the alley and made a sound to distract the soldier before he climbed up a rain pipe. When he saw that his target was beneath him, he came down on the guy and knocked him out. Once he had done so, he changed clothes to blend in, tied the guy up, and entered the building. After following the flow of soldiers that came out of the building, he found that he was being led underground. The lab which he came upon was almost untouched by the explosion above. There he saw huge tubes which contained people that were undergoing some type of process to be turned into various types of monsters.

Many thoughts raced across his mind, some of which centered on destroying the place since he knew what he was there for. He decided that would not be a good idea, since the things here were being relocated to somewhere else. He had to discover where that place was and then proceed from there, and so to do this he had to blend in by doing what he was told. Time passed and no one became aware of his presence there—he was able to blend in even when the soldiers were finished with their task and moving out, just as he had planned. He entered one of the vehicles, where the soldiers were prohibited from talking, which made his presence even better concealed. Sometime during the trip to wherever they were headed, an explosion was heard, and the vehicle suddenly stopped. The men he was with started to panic and questioned what was going on. Soon, their communication radios came to life, informing them that they were being attacked.

The men-- including him-- were ordered out of the vehicle and told to attack the source of the trouble. The source of the trouble he saw was a silver-haired girl wearing a black t-shirt and chaps who was firing at the vehicles and at the men trying to stop her. He watched as the men who were with him also fell to her gunfire, until he was the last one standing. Suddenly she focused her attention on him and pointed her guns in his direction. Having no choice, as she fired, he had to respond in kind. It was over in a heartbeat as the world around them became silent in the aftermath.


	2. Chapter 2

Part of the Program

Part 2

She had experienced a lot these last couple of days. First she found out her origin, survived along with Sai in an explosion that should have killed them both, thanks to getting into Jango in nick of time-- although he was wrecked-- and then finding Meg along with a rebuilt Jango doing what she did before she and the others had to go into hiding after the destruction of RAPT, due to being labeled terrorists. And to top it all off, Sei was captured when she tried to contact her grandfather and was now being used to extort money from her family to rebuild RAPT. Thanks to Amy, she was able to find out that she was being held in a seemingly abandoned factory where things from the main RAPT HQ were being transported to. Her plan was to capture one of the trucks and use it to go in under disguise. This plan faced a snag when she came to face with a soldier who was somehow able to dodge some of her bullets and shoot those that got too close to him out of the air.

Soldier: Is it your policy to shoot first and ask questions later?

Jo: I know enough.

Soldier: Really? Mind sharing? I was on the way to find out where they were going to and then stop what they are doing—that is, until you decided to go all John Woo on these guys.

Jo: John who?

Soldier: Never mind, you probably would not understand. Anyway, it seems you and I might be on the same side. I was also in the way to find out where they were going with this stuff and putting a stop to whatever they are up to.

There was something about this person that made her believe that he was telling the truth, but she knew that words alone would not cause her to trust this man just yet.

Jo: …If you are lying about your intentions, I'll kill you.

Soldier: Fair enough. I am guessing you are intending of using one of the trucks to go where they were off to, right?

He had turned his back to her as he headed to the door of the truck and threw the driver out. He was impressed how the girl was able to take out the drivers before they could radio for help. He searched the inside of the truck and located a map which, to his good fortune, had the directions to where the trucks where heading.

John: Well, this is where we depart.

Jo: I am coming with you.

Soldier: Huh?

He looked at her and knew she would not back down. After agreeing with her, she told him that she would have to get in touch with some friends who would help. Later, after meeting her friends and hearing their plan, the soldier said he would drive the truck, since he was the only one dressed to play the part. They agreed, and so now he was pulling into what appeared to be an abandoned factory. Stopping at a gate, he was greeted by a security guard.

Guard: Where are the others?

Soldier: We were attacked, and I was the only one to escape. I tried to call for help, but my radio had been damaged.

The guard took a look at the radio and saw that it was indeed damaged. He also took a look in the back and saw that there were some of the things that they were supposed to have shipped there.

Guard: Everything seems to be in order, but let me make a call to see what we should do.

Soldier: Sure, but don't blame me when they blow a fuse as to why the only truck to make it was delayed in delivering this stuff.

The guard seemed to consider this for a second, and knowing what the people in charge were capable of, he decided not to take his chances and let the truck pass through.

Once the soldier was told where to proceed, he followed the instructions given to him and went down to an underground parking lot, where he parked the truck. Once he saw that he was clear, he proceeded to go along with his objective, while hoping that his companion would do hers.

She had hid under the truck and waited as the guard let them through, and waited even after the man she had aligned with left to do what he had to according to the plan that they had formulated on the way to the facility. Now she was waiting for Meg to do her part by using the red Jango to cause some chaos to which she would use as a distraction to free Sei. Just as she thought about this, a series of explosions were heard, causing alarms to be activated. This is what she was waiting for, but she had to move fast before they figured out what was happening. She headed in the direction Amy told her after she had hacked into their security system. When she got to her destination, only two guards were there, which she had no problem dispatching. She was greeted by Sei when she opened the door.

Jo: Are you ok?

Sei: I am fine, but there are some things we must do before we go.

Jo: It is already being taken care of.

Her radio came to life with the voice of the soldier, as well as gunfire sounds in the background.

Soldier: There has been a bit of change in plans! Meet me at the control room located in the fourth floor room A-4!

Jo: Why?

Soldier: Things are more serious than you can imagine! Just come and you'll see.

She filled Sei in as they headed to their destination. When they got there, they came just in time to see the soldier take down the last of the guards in the area with fast moves no normal human would have been able to do.

Soldier: Just finished here. You must be Sei, nice to meet you.

Sei: Likewise. And you are?

Soldier: Oh, that's right, I never introduced myself to your friends, either. My name is John, but enough of the small talk. Like I said, things are more dire than you can imagine.

The soldier now known as John used a keycard that he swiped from someone to enter the room he previously mentioned.

Inside were computers, monitoring equipment and two men working on them, but the thing that caught the women's attention was what was at the other end of the room. What they saw through a glass wall was something that they had never seen nor would possibly ever see again. The object was seemingly suspended in the air and had a spherical shape, and was composed of some type a liquid. The liquid, if it could be called that, did not reflect its surroundings, but instead it displayed an otherworldly scene on its surface.

John: Freeze! Do not do anything stupid!

Man: You must be the one that we were warned of.

John: Oh, how nice, you have heard of me. Damn it, you have already connected to the other side!

Man: Yes, and now they'll be coming here soon.

Sei: What are you talking about and what is….that?

John: I do not have time to go over the details right now, just know that it will be bad news for everyone here if they get this thing finished. Just keep an eye on those two for a sec.

John quickly went to the console and started punching buttons.

Jo: What are you doing?

John: Putting a monkey wrench into their plans.

Computer: Warning: power fluctuations exceeding safety protocols. Recommend diverting power.

John: I do not think so, and just to make sure that no one stops this…

John pulled out a gun, but it was a gun the women have not seen before. When he fired it, out came a blue energy discharge that hit the control console, thus destroying it.

Sei: What the….!

John: No time to explain, just run! And as for you two gentlemen, I suggest you do the same.

They quickly ran back the way they came towards the garage, where they would acquire a vehicle and get out as soon as possible. Due to everyone evacuating because of the alarms going off and because a voice over the intercom came on, informing everyone that the base was going to blow, this allowed them to encounter no resistance along the way.

When they got there, there only one truck was left, but as they quickly made their way to it, something threw a barrel containing flammable liquids at the truck, which set it on fire. They all looked towards the direction the barrel had come from, and to at least Sei and Jo, it seemed similar to the one Meg had described to them when she was on the train with the twin brothers.

John: How nice. They left us a playmate.

Jo instinctively fired her guns at it, but the bullets did not have any effect. The creature, becoming enraged, charged at them as they scattered in three directions. The creature focused its attacks on Jo, due to her firing at it. She dodged the attacks it sent her way, but she did not know for how long she could keep it up-- the bullets from her guns were not having any effect due to the creature's thick skin. Realizing she was running out of bullets, she knew she had to think of something fast. Her answer came in the form of John, who threw her that weird gun he had used earlier.

John: Here, try this!

Jo caught the weapon in mid-air and fired before the monster attacked her again. The resulting blast from the weapon tore the creature into pieces with ease.

Jo: Thanks.

John took the weapon and put it away once she had handed it over to him.

John: No problem—but now it seems we have the problem of how to get out of here.

A vehicle was heard coming towards them at that moment, and once it got close, John saw it was being driven by the redhead he had met earlier.

Meg (smiling): Need a ride?

Jo: Where's Jango?

Meg: Oh, don't worry, I left him with Leo and Amy.

John opened the driver's side door and took the wheel from her.

Meg: Hey!

Without a word, he floored the gas and sped away once Sei and Jo were in. He drove as fast and as far as he could, just as the sky surrounding them was bathed in a white glow that obscured everything.

Meg: What is going on!

John: The reactor is going to explode, and trust me, we have got to get as far as we can before it does!

A strange sound was heard at this point, and the wind started to blow hard, coming from the direction of the factory.

John: Oh, shit! Hold on, I think this is it!

The next thing that occurred was a thunderous explosion, and the truck was thrown forward. When the truck came to a stop after having rolled over a few times the passengers who were unharmed got out. Looking over to where the factory was they saw nothing was left but a crater.

John: That was close!

Sei: Now that is over, can you explain what that thing was back there?

John: A doorway to another parallel universe.

Meg: Parallel universe? Are you mental?

Sei: I do not think he is, from what we saw in there. That technology is not from here, that is for sure.

Meg: So who are these guys and what do they want, then?

John: Well, they are from another possible reality, but I am not certain what they want yet.

Jo: Is it over?

John: I am afraid it might not be, since the portal had already connected to another parallel universe, and who knows what came through before we interrupted them. You might want to keep a lookout for anything out of the ordinary.

He started to walk away from them.

Meg: Where are you going?

John: My work here is done, and now I must move on...

John took out the device that was given to him and started to press some buttons, and in the next instant, his vision became blurred and then went dark.

She, along with Meg and Sei, had seen the man known as John disappear in front of their eyes as he was seemingly engulfed by his surroundings. Despite this, she somehow knew that they might meet again in the future. If what he had said about more trouble coming their way was true, then that meant that they must be ready for it. And she, for one, would be the first to do so.

From the Author:

Well, after seeing over ninety hits for the first part, I decided to continue the fic. Depending on how many hits this part gets will determine future stories where the character ends up in different anime universes. Anime such as Tenchi Muyo/GPX, Vandread, and others will be some of the anime that I might use. The mystery of what is going on will be revealed through these stories.


End file.
